49ers defensive lineman Dee Ford optimistic after ‘blown tire’ hampered last season

After playing just 22 percent of the defensive snaps throughout the regular season in 2019, 49ers defensive end Dee Ford is expecting to be far healthier in 2020.

That’s because he had surgery to address left knee tendinitis that hampered him dating back early in training camp last August. Ford tabbed the procedure, performed by Dr. James Andrews in Florida weeks after the Super Bowl, as an “extensive cleanup.”

“I had a severe case of tendinitis,” Ford said on a Zoom call with Bay Area reporters Friday. “With my position, that’s a blown tire.”

Ford, 29, missed five games and was used primarily as a pass rushing specialist despite becoming the team’s highest-paid defensive player when he was acquired via trade from the Kansas City Chiefs in March 2019. He signed a five-year, $87.5 million contract.

A hamstring strain that aggravated Dec. 8 in New Orleans prevented him from playing in five of the final seven regular season contests before returning for the playoffs. He said last season that he dealt with knee tendinitis dating back to his college career at Auburn before entering the league as a first-round draft pick in 2014.

Ford said there is no official timeline for a full recovery, but he feels “night and day” better than he did before the surgery.

“So I’m confident moving forward. I feel great right now,” Ford said. “I’m able to actually explode off of this knee. Thinking back on it, I can’t believe I played a whole season on it and we knew at the end of the day what we had to do.”

Ford remained productive in his limited playing time despite the injury issues. He recorded 6.5 sacks and was efficient as a pass rusher for San Francisco’s defense that finished fifth in the NFL with 48 sacks. He appeared in all three playoff games and had a sack in the Divisional Round against the Minnesota Vikings.

According to Pro Football Focus, Ford had the fifth-highest pass rush productivity metric among defensive linemen, measuring pressures per pass rushing snap, ahead of Von Miller, Myles Garrett and J.J. Watt. The 49ers were the only team in the league to have four players with at least 6.5 sacks (Arik Armstead: 10, Nick Bosa: 9, DeForest Buckner: 7.5 and Ford: 6.5).

Ford said the experience from being in the league for six years helped him stay productive despite being bothered by the knee and hamstring.

“I was able to see a lot more, I was a lot more confident, I just wasn’t able to stay out on the field,” he said. “So alleviating that problem is definitely going to put me in an advantageous situation this year. I’m trying to rack up as many sacks and (tackles for loss) as I can and help our team get back to the Super Bowl.”